Casey McDermott

Casey McDermott is a reporter covering politics and policy, with a focus on data and accountability reporting.

Prior to joining NHPR, Casey worked at The Concord Monitor and held internships at ProPublica, the Student Press Law Center and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

She studied journalism and sociology at Penn State but spent most of her days (and nights) in the newsroom of the independent student newspaper, The Daily Collegian. The Collegian was recognized nationally for its work during Casey's time as its managing editor and editor-in-chief.

It was a good week for bees, a less-good week for trees. Here’s what else you might’ve missed along the way.Want to catch up a bit earlier on the headlines? Sign up for our Friday news email, The Rundown, and get it delivered right to your inbox. Here's the link.

In case you weren't paying close attention to the headlines this week, here are some interesting things you might've missed. Want to catch up a bit earlier on the headlines? Sign up for our Friday news email, The Rundown, and get it delivered right to your inbox. Here's the link.

Why haven’t more of the state’s doctors stepped up to fight on the front lines of addiction?

Democracy for America, one of the nation’s largest grassroots progressive organizations, is backing Democrat Colin Van Ostern in the race for governor — the group’s first gubernatorial endorsement of the 2016 election cycle.

Less than a week after New Hampshire’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened in Plymouth, another is poised to open on Thursday in Dover.

The Department of Health and Human Services has officially certified Temescal Wellness, which was selected to operate two of the state's New Hampshire’s four medical marijuana dispensaries, to start serving patients at its Dover location. The company says it plans to open its doors at noon on Thursday.

By the time Sanctuary ATC opened its doors in Plymouth — around 11 a.m. Saturday morning — about a dozen people were already huddled around on the porch or hanging out in the parking lot outside, hoping to get in.

Happy Friday! Here's some interesting stuff you might've missed this week. Want to catch up a bit earlier on the headlines? Sign up for our Friday news email, The Rundown, and get it delivered right to your inbox. Here's the link.

This Saturday marked what’s believed to be the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death.

But it was also thought to have been his 452nd birthday — and over at Saint Anselm College, a group of students, professors and others turned out to honor the playwright and poet in the best way possible, with a daylong reading of his work. (There was also, of course, plenty of birthday cake.)

In New Hampshire, there’s about a 5-year gap between the life expectancy for adult women at the top of the income bracket and those at the bottom. For men in the same age group, the gap’s more than nine years wide.

That's according to new data released by The Health Inequality Project, which takes a sweeping look at the relationship between income and mortality across the country.

In recent weeks, confusion and unease have increased in several New Hampshire towns where contamination with the chemical PFOA has been detected in private wells.

Though the EPA has yet to determine a safe level of PFOA in drinking water, Sarah Pillsbury, the administrator for public drinking water with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, is hoping that's about to change.

How does University of New Hampshire President Mark Huddleston explain the size of the school's top salaries, including his own, to students and families struggling to pay tuition?

The leader of New Hampshire’s flagship university, speaking on NHPR's The Exchange Monday, said the school needs to offer competitive rates to attract the best talent — but Huddleston maintained that the school isn’t “overpaying” in the process.

On Wednesday’s episode of The Exchange, State Sens. Jeb Bradley and Andy Sanborn — a vocal proponent and opponent of the expansion, respectively — sparred over a number of elements of the program, including its effects on the state's drug crisis.

The question of whether to continue New Hampshire's expanded Medicaid program has been one of the top State House policy debates this year.

But it's something local governments are mulling over as well. In City Halls across the state, officials say the program has led to some significant savings: in the slice of taxpayers’ money set aside for medical and prescription aid, and indirect savings in other areas.

James O’Keefe, a conservative activist known for his undercover videos in New Hampshire and elsewhere, marched into the State House Thursday afternoon looking to make a point about how the state enforces its voting laws.

He left with a subpoena.

Over the past few weeks, the attorney general’s office had been asking O’Keefe to preserve the raw footage from a series of videos filmed around last month's presidential primary.

The actual number of drug deaths this year could be higher, as an additional 86 possible overdose cases are still awaiting toxicology. It can take several months for the state to fully review a suspected overdose to confirm the cause of death.

A state website that helps people compare prices across healthcare facilities relaunched this week with an expanded library of medical procedures and new information on hospital-quality measures.

The new version of NHHealthCost.Org features 31 additional medical procedures, including physical therapy, behavioral health and chiropractic care. Cost estimates for 16 dental procedures are now available, as well as new information on the retail price of 65 brand-name and generic drugs.